Table of Contents
The OTA was just a few days ago, so this report definitely won’t reflect what the meta will look like once the dust truly settles. I would love for the meta to resemble the current situation, but too many decks scream thanks for not Retreating because you had no idea or didn’t respect my cards for me to believe that.
It won’t stop me from loving the chaos; niche strategies have managed to shine, and Iron Hand confirmed its recent excellent performance with the other contenders nerfed. Look at the numbers posted by Cerebro 3, Big Move, and Hammer Time—they’re three of the best performers over the past few days. They were able to beat the recently nerfed Good Cards and Thanos, as well as the untouched Bullseye.
However, the reason I have a hard time believing this will last is the absence of some of the typical dominating synergies when it comes to developing points, such as Mister Negative and Move Bounce. Toxic, last week’s top ranked archetype, was also out of the picture this week.
I feel like this Tier List reflects the will to have a bit of fun and play different synergies for a change, rather than immediately going back to comfort picks. Who knows, some of these might still be in the next report and prove they were more than a temporary gimmick.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Trending | Cerebro 3 0.6 Cube Average / 65.5% Win Rate / 95 Games |
| Tier 1 | Iron Hand 0.7 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Big Move 0.5 Cube Average / 59.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Hammer Time 0.6 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Bullseye Discard 0.45 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Good Cards Clog 0.5 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | On Reveal 10 power 0.45 Cube Average / 58.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Thanos 10 Power 0.35 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Sera Miracle 0.25 Cube Average / 56% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Dormammu Destroy 0.2 Cube Average / 55.5% Win Rate |
Are you still chasing that elusive Infinite Rank? Here are the Top 5 performers in the ranks 80 to 99!
| Toxic Surfer | 1.2 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate |
| Mister Negative | 1.2 Cube Average / 62% Win Rate |
| Silver Surfer | 0.9 Cube Average / 65% Win Rate |
| Wiccan Control | 0.7 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate |
| Good Cards Miracle | 0.7 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate |
Here is my usual annoying advice because I’m a coach and I like to think this helps people: Focus on controlling the stakes of each game and building trust in both your deck and your decision-making abilities. Once you feel confident, feel free to take more risks. Reaching Infinite is all about understanding the process of grinding cubes. Also, constantly changing your deck limits your ability to learn the game fundamentals, as you are always focused on learning how to pilot the new deck.
Trending
Cerebro 3
den
Performance: 0.6 Cube Average / 65.5% Win Rate / 95 Games
I have no doubt Bast into Madame Web followed by Multiple Man will strike fear in the heart of your opponent. Plus, Dormammu pushed Destroy, so the ability to run both Armor and Cosmo gives this deck a huge edge in that match up. I could also toss Gorgon‘s name in there since the new 7-Cost added even more skills to the game.
For those reasons, I understand why Cerebro 3 put on a show since the OTA. However, I’m afraid the deck won’t be able to keep it up if the meta changes in the near future.
Tier 1
Iron Hand
Performance: 0.7 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate
I fully expected Iron Hand to be a great deck following the OTA, and it over-delivered with its ranking of first place overall. However, I also expected The Ancient One to be a part of it thanks to its buff, but the card still wasn’t in the best twelve. It seems like Iron Hand mostly benefited from other flexible decks being nerfed rather than the deck receiving a big buff.
Potential Additions
Luke Cage could make sense to synergize with Anti-Venom, although Shadow King already helps in that regard. Before the OTA, the deck had Quinjet and Infinity Ultron in the mix.
Big Move
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Average / 59.5% Win Rate
When I saw this deck, my first thought was Lockjaw gave it another way to cheat out a big card. However, not only is Lockjaw not around, Dracula is also out of the picture. In its place there is Blink, which can be used on a 3-Cost card thanks to the energy granted by Luna Snow in order to fetch big cards.
Overall, this build is quite different from the one we knew, and it doesn’t seem to benefit from the OTA at all. As such, it is hard to know whether this is just a better way to build Big Move or if the chaotic environment helped it post an XXL performance compared to its typical results.
Potential Additions
Araña and Ghost-Spider can represent extra move options, while Dracula is a way to get the power of Giganto or The Infinaut without needing to play these restricted cards.
Hammer Time
den
Performance: 0.6 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate
Misery has been very busy following the OTA, powering multiple decks and making it into the top tier with two of them.
Once again, I have a hard believing this deck needed a [4/9] Misery to push it over the edge while the same card with eight power was not enough. Plus, although a 57.5% Win Rate is very good, 0.6 cubes per match typically requires something north of 60% to do well. Just like with Big Move above, I have to assume this deck made the most of a temporary situation and will now have to prove its worth in a more stable environment.
Potential Additions
Killmonger does not destroy Mjolnir or Stormbreaker to get another trigger with Firehair, so maybe Carnage could be an option in addition to Misery. Shang-Chi and Shadow King are a great duo against the popular destroy decks but are otherwise flexible inclusions.
Tier 2
Bullseye
den
Performance: 0.45 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate
Out of all the typical top performers that are always on the report after a balance update, Bullseye was the one to make it this time. I looked for Mister Negative and some of the Move decks, but they have close to no games recorded.
Lately, Bullseye struggled to keep its performance at this rate past the the week of a balance change. Let’s see if that’s different this time around.
Potential Additions
Grand Master could be Gambit or Moon Knight if you wanted to include a bit of disruption.
Good Cards Clog
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate
One of the decks that was around before the OTA and a logical great performer, the Clog synergy might represent the new best way to build around the Good Cards concept with Galacta seemingly out of the picture. Arguably, the deck posted a performance worthy of Tier 1, but it just so happens that others did even better. Still, it is important to keep each deck’s track record in mind. We know Good Cards Clog is solid, so it will very likely keep performing at this level (or close to it) in the future.
Plus, the deck did this in a meta with a lot of destroy around due to Dormammu‘s release.
Potential Additions
Yellowjacket and Sam Wilson Captain America are a bit of a gimmick with Annihilus and Viper. With Rhino buffed in the OTA, you could consider using the now 2-Cost alongside King Eitri or Nebula in this deck.
On Reveal 10 Power
den
Performance: 0.45 Cube Average / 58.5% Win Rate
Misery has to be the card with the most impressive track record following a one power buff. Not only has it popped up in many On Reveal decks, even Sauron 10 Power called on the now [4/9] for help. And the best part is: it makes sense!
In this deck, Misery can be used on Nightmare to change the text of your cards once again in case you got a disappointing roll the first time. Plus, without Skaar in the deck, Misery brought The Hood in order to generate Demons that you can pair with your 4- and 5-Cost cards on Turn 6.
Merlin acts as the insurance policy in case Misery doesn’t show up, rounding out a pretty cool looking 10 Power deck in my opinion.
Potential Additions
Misery, The Hood, and Nico Minoru were not part of the deck previously, so they can be considered flexible for now. Typhoid Mary, Surtur, and Crossbones are closer to the core idea of this deck, but they also limit its flexibility.
Thanos 10 Power
den
Performance: 0.35 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate
This build helped a struggling Thanos remain relevant after the previous OTA targeted its Control build. This was also one of the few decks that was able to post a 60%+ Win Rate on this report, so it has to be respected. However, the Cube Average is already low enough to indicate the deck is unable to keep opponents in the match after a Snap.
On Reveal 10 Power posted a 0.45 Cube Average with a 3% worse Win Rate. Surprising your opponent is key in Marvel Snap, even with a terrific win percentage.
Potential Additions
Surge is really in here because it is a great card, while Armor and Cosmo serve as protection (on top of disrupting Destroy at the moment). The other cards have synergistic purposes, so unless you manage to keep the synergy intact (by replacing a 10 power card with another 10 power card), the swap will hurt the deck in some way.
Tier 3
It feels really weird to see a Dormammu-focused build be the best list for Destroy. To be fair, that isn’t the case at all ranks, but I guess this one was the most able to navigate the Armors and Cosmos that are more present among the Infinite decks. Another possibility (and I think a likely one) is that most Infinite players took this OTA as a chance to have a bit of fun and explore new ideas.
Sera Control doesn’t tell me much apart from Galacta seemingly being gone at the moment; both decks that could have used the recently nerfed card did not include it this week.
Sera Miracle
den
Performance: 0.25 Cube Average / 56% Win Rate
Dormammu Destroy
den
Performance: 0.2 Cube Average / 55.5% Win Rate
That’s it for this week! To reach out, find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or shoot me a direct message (@den_ccg) for specific stuff or coaching.
Good Game Everyone.
Disclaimer and Tier Explanations
In order to be featured here, a deck needs to represent at least 1% of the current environment and have a positive Cube Average in the Ranked mode. Win Rate is also taken into consideration, and it can greatly impact the ranking of a deck, particularly when several archetypes (or different builds of the same deck) have a similar Cube Average but big Win Rate discrepancies. The Marvel Snap mechanics do, however, push players to maximize cubes gained rather than win every single game.
In order to create this chart, den is using data from our Marvel Snap Tracker, as well as other available data online and his own expertise and opinion of respected players. If a deck showed great performances with a very limited presence in the meta, you can find it in the Silent Performers section. That section highlights decks with an excellent Win Rate, but too little of a sample size to be representative of their real strength.
Decks not good enough to be considered contenders but with a good representation will be ranked in Tier 3 in our chart. See those builds as decks that are good to know about, as you should face them when playing Marvel Snap. However, unless the meta changes or a new variation of the build emerges, these decks are a notch below the dominant ones in Tier 1 and Tier 2.
Silent Performer: Decks with a very little presence in the meta that still showcase a Cube Average and Win Rate worthy of a Tier 2 deck (or better). Oftentimes, these can be archetypes with some nice game play that have been left unchecked in the current environment, or decks on the rise that found a few good match ups to abuse.
Tier 1: Tier 1 represents decks with all the upsides we would be looking for to rack up Cubes. They have good match ups in the current meta, offer different play patterns during a match, and often have the ability for explosive or surprising turns. These should be decks worth investing into in order to climb for the coming week.
Cube Average > 0.6 or Cube Average > 0.5 & Win Rate > 59%
Tier 2: Tier 2 are very good decks but with a weakness holding them back – either not being as reliable in its draws as Tier 1 decks, countered by another popular deck, or still being a work in progress as you read this. A good pilot could probably take these and have the same results as with a Tier 1 deck, but their play patterns are more difficult to enact compared to the tier above.
Cube Average > 0.35
Tier 3: This tier is made of decks that have a pervasive issue compared to Tier 1 or Tier 2 decks. Usually, Tier 3 will be a mix of decks on the rise that don’t have much data, old archetypes on the decline, decks that require substantial experience and/or knowledge to pilot properly, powerful decks that aren’t well positioned, or niche decks.
Cube Average > 0.20
Budget: Decks that consist only of cards in Pool 1 and 2 that are still capable of competing with an experienced pilot in a similar Collection Level, Rank, and MMR range. See our matchmaking guide for more details.
Meta stats and analytics directly from our Marvel Snap Tracker can also be found here.
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